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Jonny Clayton (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Premier League Darts: Night 16 predictions, betting tips, acca, statistics, order of play and TV time

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu May 27, 2021 · 3y ago

Our match-by-match guide for Thursday's Unibet Premier League Darts fixtures includes statistics, predictions, best bets and an acca.

Follow @ChrisHammer180 on Twitter

It's the final night of the regular season and there's two issues to be decided - the league leaders' bonus of £25,000 and, more importantly, who secures the last available play-off spot.

The latter all boils down to the winner takes all clash between Jonny Clayton and Dimitri Van den Bergh - although the Ferret will progress with a draw - while Michael van Gerwen is in pole position ahead of Nathan Aspinall to finish on top of the standings for the eighth time in nine seasons.

Premier League Night 16: May 27

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 BST)
Format: Maximum of 14 legs
Suggested Acca: Peter Wright & Dimitri Van den Bergh at 5.83/1 (Sky Bet)

Gary Anderson (11/8) v James Wade (11/8), draw (3/1)

Head to Head: 34-17, 5 draws (TV: 16-10, 5 draws)
Meetings since start of 2020: 1-0, 1 draw (TV: 1-0, 1 draw)
Last Meeting: 6-6 (Premier League Night One, April 2021)
Career PDC Titles: 46-38 (TV: 15-11)
PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-1)
Premier League Average this season: 97.57 – 98.63
Premier League 180’s this season: 55-37
Premier League 100+ checkouts: 11-13 (High Finish: 156 – 161)
Premier League checkout percentage: 38.35% - 49.71%
Premier League Position: 8th-7th (13-13)
Premier League leg difference: -11 / -5

It's very rate to see one world-class player competing in a 'dead rubber', let alone two, but that's exactly the position Gary Anderson and James Wade find themselves in tonight.

The legendary duo are often labelled as darting mercenaries when it comes to motivation so it's hard to see how either will be fired up to deliver on an occasion where there's hardly anything to play for. The difference between sixth (£60,000) and eighth (£50,000) may well be the equivalent of winning a Players Championship title but it's certainly not enough to get their true juices flowing, that's for sure.

That all said, neither had anything but pride on the line in their matches against high-flying Dimitri Van den Bergh and Nathan Aspinall last night but still managed to produce battling performances to earn 7-7 draws, with Wade averaging a very sound 100.20.

The Machine also managed to reach almost 102 the previous night in his draw with Aspinall as Anderson produced a mediocre 95 in an 8-4 defeat to Michael van Gerwen so you could say he's marginally in better form.

I'm going to give the edge to Wade in this one but I'm also throwing in Anderson to hit most 180s in an alternative double at 7/2 given how many more of those the Flying Scotsman has managed this season (55-37).

Score Prediction: 6-8
Suggested Bet: James Wade to win and Gary Anderson to hit most 180s at 7/2 (Sky Bet)

Nathan Aspinall (6/4) v Jose de Sousa (5/4), draw (3/1)

Head to Head: 1-1, 1 draw (TV: 0-0, 1 draw)
Meetings since start of 2020: 0-1, 1 draw (TV: 0-1, 1 draw)
Last Meeting: 6-6 (Premier League Night Four, April 2021)
Career PDC Titles: 5-4 (TV: 2-1)
PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)
Premier League Average this season: 97.61 – 99.57
Premier League 180’s this season: 57-78
Premier League 100+ checkouts: 13-4 (High Finish: 161 – 141)
Premier League checkout percentage: 43.67% - 42.29%
Premier League Position: 2nd-3rd (19-18)
Premier League leg difference: +20 / +15

It's an incredible achievement for both these players finishing in the top four with a game to spare but it's the outsider of the pair who has the chance to scoop the £25,000 league leader's bonus.

Nathan Aspinall, who I tipped on these pages at 22/1 for the title pre-season despite him being considered as a relegation contender by the bookies, must win this game and hope Peter Wright beats Michael van Gerwen in the next to become only the fourth different player to achieve the feat behind the Dutchman, Phil Taylor and Glen Durrant.

Debutant Jose de Sousa has taken to the Premier League like a duck to water this season but the only thing he's playing for tonight is hitting the two 180s he needs to break Gary Anderson's record for most maximum in a single season which stands at 79 from the 2011 campaign.

I've heard it said how particularly remarkable it is for him to do this on his debut, but the same was true of Anderson back then and he also went on to win the overall title. The way De Sousa has performed, he could emulate that record too and become the fifth debutant champion, behind Taylor, Anderson, MVG and Durrant.

As for this match, the only real difference between the duo, who drew 6-6 earlier in the campaign, is the maximum count and the fact De Sousa has consistently scored heavier but the fact Aspinall has hit a hearty amount of 180s himself (57) to lie third overall means we've got to go high on that metric, especially if its a close game.

Score Prediction: 8-6
Suggested Bet: Over 10.5 180s at 2/1 (Sky Bet)

Peter Wright (9/4) v Michael van Gerwen (4/5), draw (7/2)

Head to Head: 20-63, 2 draws (TV: 6-34, 2 draws)
Meetings since start of 2020: 2-4 (TV: 1-2)
Last Meeting: 2-7 (Premier League Night Two, April 2021)
Career PDC Titles: 35-138 (TV: 8-55)
PDC Titles this season: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
Premier League Average this season: 96.33 – 98.35
Premier League 180’s this season: 44-36
Premier League 100+ checkouts: 11-20 (High Finish: 161 – 148)
Premier League checkout percentage: 42.86% - 41.31%
Premier League Position: 6th-1st (15-21)
Premier League leg difference: -6 / +22

Michael van Gerwen may feasibly walk out onto the stage in the safe knowledge that the £25,000 league leader's bonus is his for the eighth time in his ninth season should Nathan Aspinall have dropped points against Jose de Sousa but if that's not the case then you can expect Peter Wright to revel in the role of spoiler.

Although Snakebite did have a mathematical chance of reaching the Play-Offs this week, I'm pretty sure his main motivation deep down was to rediscover his mojo in front of the fans and salvage some lost pride and there's no doubt he's done that with three vastly improved displays compared to what we'd seen for most of the season.

Victories over James Wade, Dimitri Van den Bergh and Jonny Clayton with an overall average of 99.8 reminded us just how much he needs a crowd more than most players on the circuit - a point that has been widely made during a period in which his only title on stage was during the European Championship last year that did have fans present.

Wright will be first to admit he has a very poor record against MVG - particularly on TV - but on this occasion there's no pressure on his shoulders and considering the way they talk about each other in the media, albeit half jokingly (perhaps?), he'd surely get a small kick out of stoping his rival topping the table.

Even if that's been wrapped up before a dart is thrown, the former world champion does have enough incentive to impress tonight whereas van Gerwen's inconsistency always makes him as vulnerable as he is dangerous.

Although his averages have reliably rotated between sky high and bang average throughout most of the season, the last three nights he's produced marks of 96.74, 98.02 and 98.62 so if that trend continues then we could see a very minor upset.

Score Prediction: 8-6
Suggested Bet: Wright to win at 9/4 (Sky Bet)

Dimitri Van den Bergh (11/10) v Jonny Clayton (7/4), draw (3/1)

Head to Head: 4-1 (TV: 3-1)
Meetings since start of 2020: 2-0 (TV: 2-0)
Last Meeting: 7-3 (Premier League Night Six, April 2021)
Career PDC Titles: 2-7 (TV: 1-2)
PDC Titles this season: 1-3 (TV: 0-1)
Premier League Average this season: 100.06 – 98.85
Premier League 180’s this season: 66-50
Premier League 100+ checkouts: 15-12 (High Finish: 164 – 150)
Premier League checkout percentage: 40.83% - 37.34%
Premier League Position: 5th-4th (16-16)
Premier League leg difference: +2 / +5

The last available play-off place all boils down to the last fixture of the regular season but Jonny Clayton is in the box seat as he knows a draw or win will see him finish in the top four ahead of fellow debutant Dimitri Van den Bergh.

Both have enjoyed terrific seasons but that won't come as much consolation to whoever misses out when you consider their costly stumbles towards the finishing line over the past three days.

Van den Bergh has picked up just one point from this three games while Clayton has managed two after following up a crushing 8-1 victory over Gary Anderson with a pair of disappointing 8-5 defeats to Jose de Sousa and Peter Wright in which he averaged 91.80 and 95.29 respectively.

At least the Belgian managed averages of 106.97 in an 8-5 defeat to Wright (5-8) and 101.08 in his gutsy 7-7 draw with James Wade last night to show his high standards are still holding together and that's why the bookies have priced him up as marginal favourite to get the win he needs to pip the Ferret.

The confident Van den Bergh also boasts a superior head-to-head record between the pair and of his four victories over the Welshman two of those have come in the last six months at the 2020 Grand Slam of Darts (10-3) and this season's Premier League (7-3) so that is also an extra factor to bare in mind.

Only De Sousa has fired in more 180s than the World Matchplay champion's 66 - with Clayton managing 50 - so I'm going to double up a VDB win with him hitting the most maximums at 5/2.

Score Prediction: 8-5
Suggested Bet: Van den Bergh to win and hit most 180s at 5/2 (Sky Bet)

2021 Premier League Darts Table

Michael van Gerwen P 15 W 9 D 3 L 3 LegD +22 Pts 21
Nathan Aspinall P 15 W 7 D 5 L 3 LegD +20 Pts 19
Jose de Sousa P 15 W 7 D 4 L 4 LegD +15 Pts 18
Jonny Clayton P 15 W 7 D 2 L 6 LegD +5 Pts 16
Dimitri Van den Bergh P 15 W 6 D 4 L 5 LegD +2 Pts 16
Peter Wright P 15 W 6 D 3 L 6 LegD -6 Pts 15
James Wade P 15 W 4 D 5 L 6 LegD -5 Pts 13
Gary Anderson P 15 W 5 D 3 L 7 LegD -11 Pts 13
Rob Cross P 9 W 3 D 1 L 5 LegD -3 Pts 7 (ELIMINATED)
Glen Durrant P 9 W 0 D 0 L 9 LegD -39 Pts 0 (ELIMINATED)

The top four after 16 games qualify for the end of season play-offs, where the title will be decided
Players earn two points for a win, and one for a draw.
When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.

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